Want to Arrive on Time? Which Airlines Will Get You There

New report reveals punctuality rates of U.S. carriers

2019-03-15T16:37:25+00:00

by Lark Gould

Not all airlines are equal when it comes to getting to their destinations on time. The latest U.S. Department of Transportation report shows that if Hawaii is your destination, you are in luck, Hawaiian Airlines has the highest on-time performance of any U.S. airline, according to a report’s annual findings.

In 2018, Hawaiian Airlines, including all its codeshare partner airlines, showed overall on-time arrivals result of 87.8 percent of all its flights. Second in performance: Delta Air Lines reported 86.1 percent of last year’s flights arrived at the scheduled time. That feat was followed in third place by Alaska Airlines, which had an on-time performance of 82.7 percent.

On time performance statistics vary by airline month to month but the annual report shows that U.S. carriers posted an on-time arrival rate of 79.2 percent for 2018.

Earlier this year, aviation data company FlightGlobal named Delta Air Lines as the most punctual airline in the world. They also named Qatar Airways as the world’s best on-time airline network, and went on to name Azul and Iberia Express as tied winners in Low-Cost Carrier category FlightGlobal’s annual On-Time Performance Service (OPS) Awards rank airlines based on more than 120,000 flights per day and 600 global sources.

At the end of last year, the Federal Aviation Administration named Spirit Airlines as the most punctual, according to Vox News. The report was surprising as the airline has been previously reviled by consumers for its stringent fee policies for seat selection and carry-on baggage and its dismal on-time record. But the airline made considerable internal changes in recent years to allow for improved operations.

At the bottom of last year’s performance marks, according to the Department of Transportation reports, three airlines took the top spots:

The overall on-time U.S. airline arrival rate of 79.4 percent was down from 80.2 percent in 2017. As for airports, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) showed the highest percentage of on-time arrivals by airlines on a volume basis. Of 31,491 scheduled arrivals, 85.3 percent of them pulled in on time, according to the government report.